CNN

(CNN) — Kathleen Sebelius revealed Tuesday that she recently paid nearly $8,000 in back taxes and interest, becoming the sixth Obama nominee to have tax issues.

In the letter, released Tuesday by the committee and the Department of Health and Human Services, the Kansas governor said she had errors in her 2005, 2006 and 2007 tax returns.

Sebelius said she did not have letters supporting three charitable contributions she and her husband made and deducted, and had "insufficient documentation required to claim some deductions for business expenses."

Also, she and her husband sold their home for an amount less than their outstanding mortgage balance, and mistakenly continued to deduct the interest. The couple also treated a home equity loan the same way.

As a result, they have now paid $7,040 in taxes and $878 in interest.

Read the rest of this entry »

CNN=Politics Daily is The Best Political Podcast from The Best Political Team.

(CNN) - In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily: President Obama makes his European debut as chief executive. How is his performance being perceived abroad and at home? CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider looks at the numbers.

Also: Americans are looking on the bright side. CNN Democratic Strategist Paul Begala and Republican Strategist Ron Christie weigh in on a new poll that shows Americans don't blame the president for their economic woes.

Plus: A new administration, and a new shot at opening doors to Cuba. Could the forbidden island once again be an option for U.S. tourists? CNN's Jim Acosta takes a look at a new effort to end the current travel ban.

Finally: Kathleen Sebelius in the hot seat. The president's second choice pick for the Health Secretary position squared off with senators at her confirmation hearing Tuesday. CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash has the story.

Click here to subscribe to CNN=Politics Daily.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - In a sign that Senate Democrats may be close to adopting a special budget procedure to speed passage of President Obama's health care and global warming legislation, a key Democratic senator said Tuesday that he is not ruling out using the controversial method of "reconciliation."

"It could happen," said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, despite his repeated concerns that doing so would damage bipartisan cooperation in the Senate.

The fast-track procedure would prevent Republicans from filibustering the health care and global warming bills which the Finance Committee helps to write.

"Reconciliation is not my first choice. It's not my second choice," Baucus said, but then added, "I'm not flat opposed to it either."

Read the rest of this entry »

Franken holds a 225 vote lead over Coleman.

(CNN) – A Minnesota court Tuesday ordered the review of 400 absentee ballots in that state's still-disputed Senate race, a number that falls far short of the 1,300 absentee ballots Republican Norm Coleman says need to be counted.

The three-judge panel's ruling is a break for Democrat Al Franken, who currently holds a 225 vote lead over Coleman. Given the former SNL comedian's current lead, Coleman needs to capture nearly 80 percent of the 400 absentee ballots to erase his vote deficit.

The panel and officials from the Secretary of State's office will convene Tuesday, April 7 and open the ballots in open court.

Franken lawyer Marc Elias said he was "very pleased" with the order and felt fairly confident they would still remain on top.

Coleman attorney Ben Ginsberg said he was "disappointed" with the order and said the court was "wrong." He added they are more than likely to lose at the trial level and will appeal.

"It is pretty much of a long shot with that few ballots being put in play," Ginsberg said of their chances given the pool of only 400 votes that will be considered.

"The math is going to be very difficult for former Sen. Coleman and his legal team at this point."

Sen. John McCain says he supports President Obama's efforts in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - While President Obama has insisted that securing Afghanistan against a rise in terrorist groups is a top priority in the war on terrorism, Sen. John McCain said Tuesday that the problems in that country are not as thorny as those in Iraq.

"It's [Afghanistan's] not as tough as Iraq, and don't let anyone tell you that it is, because when we started the [2007] surge, Iraq was virtually in a state of collapse," McCain said during a speech at The Foreign Policy Initiative.

President Obama announced a troop increase Friday of 4,000 in Afghanistan, in addition to the 17,000 previously announced. Obama said those troops will help train the Afghan army and police.

While McCain said he supports the president's efforts in Afghanistan, he would increase the Afghan army beyond the planned levels.

Full story

Bank of American CEO Ken Lewis should be fired, the SEIU says.

(CNN) - One of the country's largest labor unions criticized President Obama Tuesday for pushing GM CEO Rick Wagoner to resign, but not handing a pink slip to Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis.

SEIU President Andy Stern, whose union conglomerate endorsed Obama in the Democratic primary, said it "defies logic, common-sense, and responsible governance to punish the auto industry while letting financial institutions off the hook."

"Both Rick Wagoner and Ken Lewis sunk large public companies - putting thousands out of work and toppling the American economy - while accepting billions in taxpayer bailouts. Yet only Wagoner got a pink slip," Stern said in a statement. "Firing GM's CEO is a positive step towards restructuring a broken industry. But the Obama Administration needs to apply the same lesson to the financial sector: replace failed leadership and shepherd the industry into a new era."

The SEIU is also circulating a petition to its two million members calling on the president to ask for Lewis's resignation.

Stern also specifically criticized Lewis for "actively fighting" the Employee Free Choice Act, the pending legislation that would make it easier for employees to unionize.

SEIU spokeswoman Christy Setzer said the organization is specifically targeting Lewis because "more Americans are affected by them than any other financial institution."

Virginia governor Tim Kaine was Obama's choice to lead the DNC.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has signed a bill into law banning the use of some state funds for embryonic stem cell research.

The move puts the DNC chairman at odds with President Obama, who signed an executive order earlier this month reversing the Bush administration's ban on federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells.

Kaine approved the Virginia bill on Monday, according to the governor's office, the same day he enacted legislation that would permit "Choose Life" license plates in the commonwealth - an act that angered state and national abortion rights advocates.

The governor signed another piece of legislation Monday aimed at promoting "science and technology-based" research and development in Virginia. It contains language inserted by the General Assembly that would prevent a state fund from providing dollars to organizations or businesses that undertake "research in Virginia on human cells or tissue derived from induced abortions or from stem cells obtained from human embryos."

Kaine's support for the legislation is not surprising: He is a staunch Catholic who has long opposed using taxpayer money for embryonic stem cell research. But the platform of the Democratic Party, now headed by Kaine at Obama's behest, describes embryonic stem cell research as "research that could save lives."

Both the stem cell bill and the license plate uproar highlight the balancing act Kaine faces in his dual roles of the moment: one as policy-minded governor of a moderate state, and another as a the national face for a partisan organization seeking to promote President Obama agenda. Kaine will assume the DNC position full time when his term expires in January.

Asked for comment about Kaine's departure from the national party line, the DNC referred questions to the governor's office in Richmond.

Read the rest of this entry »

In a new blog post, Meghan McCain discusses Rep. Aaron Schock.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - At 27 years old, Illinois Republican Rep. Aaron Schock is the youngest member of Congress. He's also possessed of washboard abs and has, as of late, become a favorite target of celebrity gossip outlet TMZ. And the daughter of the last Republican presidential candidate thinks he might just be the answer to the GOP's troubles.

Related: TMZ focuses on Illinois Republican

"The first time I ever heard of Congressman Aaron Schock, I was hanging out with some friends during a girls' night in, and one of my friends yelled to me from the other room: 'Meghan, there's a congressman on TMZ,'" Meghan McCain writes Tuesday in her latest blog post for the Daily Beast. "To which I answered: 'Twenty bucks he's a Democrat.' Well, I was wrong."

"...At the end of the day, Congressman Schock is only three years older than me. Which means he can relay a message in ways my father never could," she says.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rep. John Culberson spoke with conservative bloggers about social media Tuesday at the Heritage Foundation.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - One of the pioneers in the use of social media by Congress said Tuesday that the micro-blogging service Twitter might sometimes allow for a little too much transparency.

"Oh, sure, that's always possible," Texas Republican Rep. John Culberson said when asked by CNN whether members of Congress might come to regret thoughts tweeted in the heat of the moment.

"I remember Benjamin Franklin's admonition that... if you're really, really mad, to write it all down and then look at it and think about it and wad it up and throw it in the fireplace and let it burn. And, there's a few twitters that I get - I get really frustrated and angry because I am really concerned. For the first time, I'm really spooked about the financial solvency of America," he said.

While the Texas Republican is aware of the potential pitfalls of social media, he also believes social networking technologies can catalyze political organizing and advocacy.

"This is a horizontal revolution," Culberson said also Tuesday at the Heritage Foundation's weekly gathering of conservative bloggers. "Think of a flock of birds or a school of fish and how they move: absolute synchronization. That's possible using this technology."

Related: Congress wades through tweets

Dodd may face a tough fight to keep his Senate seat in 2010.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Another Republican has officially jumped into the race to challenge Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd in 2010.

State Sen. Sam Caligiuri is the second Republican to officially announce a bid to run against the embattled Dodd, who has come under fire over his admission that he added a loophole into the stimulus package that allowed AIG and other companies that received bailout money to pay millions of dollars in bonuses to their employees.

"I am running to take us into the future and away from what Washington has come to represent: career politicians in power for so long, and with so little accountability, that they feel they can do – or fail to do – anything they want and still get elected," Caliguiri said in a statement released Tuesday. "Regardless of who my opponent may be, I am committed to changing Washington in ways that career politicians are simply unable to do."

Former Rep. Rob Simmons, a Republican, announced his decision to run for the Senate earlier this month. As of now, Dodd does not have any official Democratic challengers.

Recent polling shows that the incumbent may be in for a tough fight. The latest Quinnipiac University poll released March 10 shows Simmons getting 43 percent of the vote, with Dodd at 42 percent. According to the same poll, Dodd would beat Caliguiri 47 percent to 34 percent.

The Treasury Department launched an interactive new Web site Tuesday in an effort to bring about accountability and transparency to the Obama administration's Financial Stability Plan.

(CNN) – The Treasury Department launched an interactive new Web site Tuesday in an effort to bring about accountability and transparency to the Obama administration's Financial Stability Plan.

FinancialStability.gov, announced last month by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, is designed to track how tax dollars are spent in relation to the administration's financial stability, housing, and economic recovery programs. The "impact" page displays hard facts, hosting a map indicating locations where the department has funded transactions through the Capital Purchase Program. Clicking on a state provides a breakdown of when the transactions took place and the price paid for the assets.

According to the map, banks in Montana, Vermont, and New Mexico have received $0, while the remaining 48 states received investments "ranging from as small as about $301,000 to as large as $25 billion." Not surprisingly, New York received the most funding with over 80 billion.

Economic data charts, published lists of bank lending surveys designed to better track bank lending, and a search option which will display all physical contracts and agreements related to the financial stability plan are also featured.

And in an effort to enhance its user-friendly appeal, FinancialStability.gov includes a "decoder" section which defines common financial terms used throughout the site.

The officials were particularly angered about a lack of accounting for the sprawling program, complaining that Treasury didn't make any effort to monitor money that went to the 364 banks its has invested in, despite requests for information by oversight panels.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The officials charged with overseeing the $700 billion financial bailout told lawmakers Tuesday that the Treasury Department must do more to ensure that taxpayer dollars are properly spent and that the public is kept in the loop.

The officials were particularly angered about a lack of accounting for the sprawling program, complaining that Treasury didn't make any effort to monitor money that went to the 364 banks its has invested in, despite requests for information by oversight panels.

"Either you get Treasury to get some religion on this point and get some standards ... or Congress [will be] forced to step in," said Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren, chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.

The office of Inspector General for the TARP program, one of the oversight groups, did its own survey of banks that received money, and every bank that got money responded.

Neil Barofsky, special inspector general, said that some banks "co-mingled" their bailout money and couldn't break out exactly what it was used for. But other banks kept their TARP money separate and could point to new loans that had been issued due to government help.

"Some banks described some lending programs that couldn't be done without TARP funding," Barofsky said.

Full Story

(CNN) - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney - still among the most visible faces in the Republican Party - isn't ruling out another White House run in 2012.

"I love what Yogi Berra said - I can't get it exactly right, but it's something like this: 'I don't like forecasting, particularly if the future is involved,'" said Romney on CNN's American Morning.

Romney's continued fundraising prowess, active political action committee, and presence on the cable news circuit have led many political observers to speculate he is laying the groundwork for another presidential run.

Boehner called the congressional seat in New York's 20th district 'a Democrat seat.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) - As the special election got underway in New York's traditionally-Republican 20th congressional district, House Minority Leader John Boehner seemed to downplay his party's chances of reclaiming what he called a "Democrat seat."

GOP state assemblyman Jim Tedisco once held a comfortable lead over Democratic candidate Scott Murphy, but the race has tightened in recent weeks, and both national parties have poured resources into the contest. In the race's closing days, Tedisco's campaign was sharply critical of Murphy's support President Obama's stimulus plan, but Boehner told reporters Tuesday the district's vote should not be seen as a referendum on Republican policies in Washington.

"It is going to be a very close election, but it's between those two candidates up in New York. I hope Jim Tedisco wins," he said - but, he added, "it is a Democrat seat. President Obama won this seat during the presidential election last fall."

The survey suggests that President Obama is more popular than his policies on the economy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Two new national polls suggest that Americans are becoming more confident about the economy.

Forty-two percent of people questioned in a new ABC/Washington Post poll say they think the country is on the right track. It's still a minority of respondents, but it's a jump of 23 points since President Obama was inaugurated in January. And 27 percent say they think the nation's economy is getting better - also a minority, but a jump of 21 points since Obama entered the White House.

A new Gallup poll also finds a dramatic rise of consumer optimism over the past month.

"The numbers from both polls still indicate widespread dissatisfaction with economic conditions and concern about the future," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "We're not out of the woods and there is no indication that we will be any time soon. But any sign of improvement in the public's mood is good news."

The ABC/Washington Post poll also indicates that two out of three Americans approve of the way Obama is handling his duties as president. The 66 percent approval rating in the survey is in line with many recent national polls.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sebelius is Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius opened her Senate confirmation hearing for health and human services secretary Tuesday by pledging swift action on the burgeoning U.S. health-care crisis.

"We face a health system that burdens families, businesses, and government budgets with sky-rocketing costs. Action is not a choice. It is a necessity," she told members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Sebelius' hearing was chaired by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, who has made few public appearances since being diagnosed last year with malignant glioma, an often-lethal type of brain tumor.

"Over the past 10 months, I've seen our health-care system up close. I've benefited from the best of medicine," Kennedy said. "But we have too many uninsured Americans. We have sickness care and not health care. We have too much bureaucracy. ... Costs are out of control. But today, we have an opportunity like never before to reform our health care."

Read the rest of this entry »

This is not the first time the president has weighed in on the campaign.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama sent supporters a last-minute pitch Monday night to boost turnout in today's special congressional election in New York's 20th congressional district.

In an e-mail sent out via the Democratic National Committee's Organizing For America grassroots effort, the president urged the party's voters to head to the polls to vote for venture capitalist Scott Murphy. "I need you to go vote...It's going to be a very close race, and your vote could make all the difference," he wrote. Historically, turnout in such special contests is very low.

This is not the first time the president has weighed in on the campaign. Last week, his endorsement of Murphy was touted in a DNC-funded television ad in the district. Murphy is running against Republican Jim Tedisco in the election to fill the seat left vacant when Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to fill the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton.

In his Monday e-mail message, the president linked a Murphy victory to passage of the administration's agenda. "With Scott in Congress, we'll work together to bring about solutions to our economic challenges and create new jobs in Upstate New York and across the country."

Tedisco has looked to make Murphy's support for the president's stimulus plan a major issue in the closing days of the campaign - and Republicans, sensing a chance to gain back a seat that has traditionally been in GOP hands and take some momentum from the president, have poured resources into the New York assemblyman's candidacy.

The DNC's traveling billboard makes its first appearance Tuesday in West Palm Beach, FL.

(CNN) - The Democratic National Committee's anti-Rush Limbaugh billboard makes its debut in West Palm Beach, FL Tuesday morning, the town adjacent to the conservative talk show host's neighborhood of Palm Beach.

"Americans Didn't Vote for a Rush to Failure" was the winning slogan in a DNC contest last month that followed Limbaugh's statement that he hoped President Obama would fail.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris lost another round Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Tobacco giant Philip Morris lost another round Tuesday in a nearly $80 million punitive damages case that morphed into a increasingly complex, decade-long dispute between U.S. Supreme Court justices and their state counterparts in Oregon.

In a one-sentence opinion, the justices Tuesday threw out the latest appeal, essentially ending the tobacco company's appeals over the amount of the jury award, without ruling on the larger legal issues. Those issues deal with how the Oregon Supreme Court dealt with direction from the U.S. Supreme Court on how to handle the case.

The original question before the high court was the power of juries to impose large punitive awards against well-heeled corporations in certain product-liability lawsuits. Several business groups expressed early disappointment those larger legal questions were not addressed.

The case was brought by the widow of a longtime smoker who sued the nation's largest cigarette maker, owned by Altria Group International.

Read the rest of this entry »

Former President George W. Bush will throw out the ceremonial first pitch next week at the Texas Rangers' home opener against the Cleveland Indians.

(CNN) – Former President George W. Bush will throw out the ceremonial first pitch next week at the Texas Rangers' home opener against the Cleveland Indians.

The event marks the fourth time a president has thrown the first pitch of the Rangers' season, and marks Bush's second time on a Major League pitching mound. Former President Gerald Ford threw out the first pitch in 1976, George H. W. Bush did the honors in 1991, and George W. Bush followed his father's lead in 2000.

The Rangers hold a special place in the former president's heart: he was managing general partner of the Texas baseball team from 1989-1994, prior to his election as state governor.